The news that a bunch of Labour peers have (allegedly) been tarting themselves about on their purported ability to get legislation changed for their "clients" has given the week's news a delicious fin-de-siecle sense of grubbiness and corruption.
One of the commenters at the relevant post at Labour Home helpfully points out that one of the alleged culprits has previous form:
Typical that Lord Taylor of Blackburn is one of them. He's a central character in the saga of Jack Straw's embarassment by the Committee on Standards and Privileges. It was Lord Taylor of Blackburn who "invited" U.S. company Canatxx, with no previous connection to Blackpool, to make the £3,000 "a non-political donation" to Jack Straw's 25th anniversary party that was never declared. A bit before Canatxx made a planning application to Lancashire County Council to to store gas in salt caverns. Lord Taylor was a paid consultant for Canatxx.
Oh, and Lord Taylor of Blackburn forgot to declare an interest when asking a supplementary question about gas storage. Canatxx's business is gas storage. He made an apology later.